Paths of Life
by Veritech
Summary: Mega Man X/Metroid Crossover. Samus gets caught up in a war between people she didn't even know existed.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer

I don not own any of the rights that are associated with the Mega Man X or Metroid franchises.  If I did, I would not be using this piece of trash Gateway computer.  Also, any other anime or game titles, characters, or concepts that appear in this story are not mine.  Since Fanfiction.net has decided that people who actively search for and read NC-17 fics, then complain about them are actually worth listening to, there will be no lemon segments in this fic.  At worst it will be lime, hopefully the virgin eyes of the teenagers reading this won't be scarred by the content, and even more hopefully, the morality of all the soccer moms out there won't be offended.

I proudly present…

Paths of Life

By: Veritech 

max_sterling83@yahoo.com

A Mega Man X-Metroid crossover

Authors insane ramblings:  This is an idea that has been bouncing around the interior of my skull for months.  Finally I have managed to get enough peace and quiet to get this beast going, so here it is.  MMX/Metroid crosses have been attempted before, to varying degrees of success.  Here is my try at a very hard genre.  There has always been trouble with the past history of X and Samus.  In both games we are given only a cursory overview of their histories, so authors must make most of it up.  That is what I will be doing.  I will use what bits and pieces of past history that these characters have, but the rest is of my own mind. 

Introduction

            The planet Zebes, a beautiful marble of green, blue and white that sits like a glistening gemstone on the velvet blackness of space.  The great beauty of this world belies the truth.  That of a great battle being fought on and below the surface of this beautiful, yet hostile world, one woman, Samus Aran, fights for her very survival against hordes of enemies.  Enemies that are both of this world, and those that have come from the pirate guilds.

            Suddenly, the seeming peace of space is shattered as the planet Zebes erupts into a ball of antimatter flame.  Concentric rings of destructive force reduce any and all objects in its path to molecular rubble, and the flash of searing white light is blinding to any who would look directly at it.   At the edge of this explosive apocalypse is a single ship.  A small yellow colored vessel the rides the extreme edge of the blast like a wave, and is buffeted by the forces it exerts like a ship on a stormy sea.  This is the ship of the sole survivor of the battle that raged on Zebes.   This is the ship of Samus Aran.

Chapter One

This chapter is mostly narrative, just to give the basis of the story.

            Lights flickered, and panels shattered and sparked as her ship was blasted in every direction.  Samus sat in the pilots seat; still encased in her powersuit, frantically fighting to regain control of her heavily damaged ship.  Finally after the explosion washed over the nearly dead energy shields, the ship came to a rest.  Samus closed her eyes for a moment and tried to calm herself.  

Still breathing hard, she removed her helmet and shook her hair free from the tangles it had gotten itself into. Droplets of sweat flew from the shoulder length russet brown hair as she shook her head side to side.

Her suit may have had environmental controls, but the heat of Norfair had taxed them to the limit.  They had finally blown themselves out for the strain shortly before she had left the brutally hot area.   Because of that, she had spent her entire time afterward, about six hours, soaked in her own sweat.  

Samus looked down at the control board, was surprised at how many of the lights on the systems display were still green, and decided to put the ship on autopilot, get out of her armor, and take a much needed shower.  Turning around, she walked through the door leading to the only corridor in her ship, and walked to her personal armory.

Entering the door, the room's lights automatically flicked on to reveal two storage lockers that sat alongside a larger cylindrical capsule.  Opening a panel on the capsule, Samus typed in a short code and stood back as the door slid open.  Turing her back on the open chamber, Samus took a backward step into the capsule.  Magnetic clamps braced the suit against the back of the capsule, and the armor opened.  A seam appeared on the breastplate and the armor opened down the center of the chest.  The thigh and shin plates hinged open the outer sides, and Samus climbed out the powersuit, pulling her arms out of the armor as she stepped out.  Turning back to the armor she tapped a few keys on the capsule controls and the armor closed silently, then the hatch of the capsule hissed shut.  The capsule was dark for a moment, then a blue indicator light came on, signaling that the diagnostic and repair functions had just activated.

Walking form the armory, Samus walked, well, more like slouched in an ambulatory fashion, toward her room, and more importantly, the shower.  Walking through the door to her quarters, she moved toward the bathroom, undressing as she went, leaving clothes strewn in a path to the bathroom door.  Entering the bathroom. Samus turned on the shower and set the water to the temp she liked, that being really damn hot.  Before she stepped in, she flipped a microdisc into a small music player and turned it on.  Then with a sigh of pleasure, she stepped into the hot water.

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            *(What, you thought I'd show Samus in the shower?  Shame on you!)

            Unknown to Samus, there was another ship the sector with her.  It too had seen the destruction of Zebes.  Although one would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to miss it.  And the occupants of this other ship were none of these.  It was a large ship, over one hundred meters longer than Samus's own ship. It had a menace about it, a feeling that this ship was built solely for one reason, war.  That made sense, since it was in fact, a heavy cruiser.  But not one belonging the any military that any living human would be able to name.  It was not a Terran Federation ship, nor was it a pirate ship. It did not belong to any of the myriad alien races that mankind knew of, in fact, it was a ship of whose kind had not been seen for over five hundred years.  This was a ship that belonged to the Reploid Concordant.

            Many would be surprised that such a ship existed, as reploids themselves had not been seen by humans-or any other race for that matter- for very near five centuries.  Reploids had left earth after the disastrous sixth maverick war.  A war that had come at the worst time, the sixth war hit just as humanity was finally recovering from the impact of the space colony Eurasia.  

The reploids themselves had been recovering from what amounted to a civil war in their own ranks.  Gate had not been maverick.  He had not yearned for the destruction of the human race; he only wanted to make an ideal world-in his image, in which humans, rather than reploids, were second-class citizens.  The main rub of that war was that Gate, with his accomplice Isoc, had kicked off a grudge war with Mega Man X by attempting to disgrace the name of X's comrade in arms and near brother, Zero.  X had given Gate a very good thrashing, and had come upon one of Gate's 'fail safes', a reincarnated Sigma.  Luckily, 'Siggy' as X called him, had been in an incomplete body, and had stood no chance against X's power and experience.

Then the true sixth war came.  Sigma had somehow managed to gain control of earth's military computers, and in an act of pure sadistic evil, turned earth's nuclear weapons against the human race.  The deaths numbered in the billions, and had plunged humanity into a second dark age that would last for several hundred years.  In that same time, the remnants of the maverick hunters fought a desperate battle against Sigma to preserve what remained of the humans.  X finally managed to lead an attack on Sigma himself that succeeded in completely destroying not only his body, but also the virus itself.  Or so X had thought.

In truth the death of Sigma was only the beginning of the wars final act.  Sigma's final action in life had been to unleash an improved maverick virus.  A virus that added the virility of the maverick code with the frightening strength of Gate's Nightmare Virus, as a final part, Sigma had empowered the new virus with its most powerful component.  A piece of the source code developed by Dr Light.  Sigma had then given the new virus a name that would forever mock Dr Light's final creation.  Sigma named it the 'X virus.' 

Nobody knows how Sigma had come to posses that code, but it enabled Sigma to make a virus with no cure.  Nothing could rehabilitate a reploid witch had been infected.  So any reploid infected had to be destroyed.  Sigma had infected one reploid to begin.  And that reploid had arguably been the most powerful reploid in existence.  That reploid had been Zero. 

Zero led a rejuvenated maverick army against the remaining stalwarts of humanities defenders.  The ensuing war would see whole new levels of brutality and destruction.  A reploid could find himself safe one moment, then fighting for his life against someone he had considered a friend the next.  Zero had the deadly ability to project the X virus over a distance, he could turn whole platoons against their former comrades, and he found no better pleasure that turning loved ones against each other.  This is what he did to X.

Unable to infect X with this new virus, and not powerful enough to defeat him, Zero decided instead to destroy everything X held dear, leaving him alone.  In a massive battle around a small human settlement Zero projected the X virus into Alia, a female reploid that had developed a relationship with X.  When the virus consumed her, Alia turned on her lover in a blind bloodlust.  To protect others and himself, X had been forced to strike down the woman he loved.  Zero had hoped that in forcing X to destroy Alia, X would be disabled with grief, and easy to dispatch.  The reverse happened.  Filled with rage and hatred X swore vengeance against Zero, and promised to find and destroy his former friend-now hated enemy.  In attempting to destroy X's will, Zero had instead forged a foe even deadlier than himself.  X had become Zero's nemesis.

The war would last another ten years; thousands more would die, until finally, X's forces managed to force Zero and the remaining mavericks to flee into space.  Seeing the destruction they had been a part in unleashing, the few reploids that were left on Earth decided to follow Zero, and fight to keep him and his armies away from Earth.  

The reploids that left with X eventually found a world to inhabit and replenish their numbers, after populating that world, they colonized another, and another, eventually populating sixteen worlds with reploids that were immune to the X virus.  Those worlds formed the Reploid Concordant.   The Concordant would continue to fight a war against Zero for hundreds of years, until the war ground to a bloody stalemate.  Each side too powerful to be overwhelmed by the other.  They maintained a strict order of silence when it came to the humans.  Reploids had already almost destroyed the humans once; they did not want to risk that again.  The Concordant became humanities silent defenders.

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            Whew!

            I think that it is getting off well here.  But tell me what you think.  If you'd like to MST it, you have my permission.

            Send C&C to: max_sterling83@yahoo.com

            On to chapter two!


	2. when Worlds Collide

Disclaimer:  Read chapter one, it's there.  There really is no need to repeat the obvious is there?

*BIG SHINY NOISE

            Well, I thought chapter one went well, even though it is all narrative.  This chapter will actually have dialogue so don't worry.

*small dull beep

Paths of Life

Chapter Two:  When Worlds Collide

            The images of the destruction of Zebes replayed on the computer screen mounted in the middle of the polished wooden desk.  The images repeated several times before the man behind the desk reached out and tapped the screens off button.  After being deactivated the screen tipped backward until it was lying flat, then recessed down into the surface of the desk where a sliding cover then covered it.  The man behind the desk sat for a moment in silence, considering what he had seen.  His concentration was broken by a voice coming from his small communicator.

            "Commander, sorry to disturb you, but the results of the sensor sweep you requested just came in."

            The Commander nodded silently.  "Very well Lieutenant, I will meet you in astrometrics in five minutes."

            "Yes Sir."  The communicator went silent.

            "Well."  The Commander sighed. "You managed to cover your tracks again, Zero."  He turned to the large window and looked at the stars.  "You can't hide from me forever, 'old friend'."

            With that, the blue armored Commander walked from his ready room and headed for astrometrics.  He hoped the sensor data contained what he was looking for.

            The Commander was walking down a corridor when a voice called to him.

            "Commander!  Commander X!"

            X stopped and turned his head to see a forest green armored reploid coming towards him.  X recognized him as Colonel Bastion, the man in charge of the ships' ground troops.

            "What is it Colonel?"

            "Sir" the Colonel said.  "Since we won't be going to Zebes, shall I tell my men to stand down?"

            X thought about it for a moment.  "Yes, have them stand down.  Then meet me in astrometrics.  If this new sensor data contains what I think it does, I'll need your opinion."

            "Sir!" The colonel saluted, then jogged to the launching bay.

            X continued on to the Astrometrics lab, and the information he hoped was there.

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            Samus was feeling much better.  Her ship was intact and most of its systems still worked.  She had set the autopilot, and was currently heading out past the Zebus' former sun's gravitational field at cruising speed until the ship could enter hyperspace.

            At the moment she was enjoying the calm and was sitting in her quarters running a brush through her slightly damp russet brown hair.  Her eyes were closed and a relaxed smile graced her faintly tanned face as she ran the brush through her hair while listening to the soft hum generated by her ships' engines.  She sat wearing the clothes she normally wore when she was preparing for sleep, a pair of gray, slightly loose-fitting shorts and a sports bra of the same color.

            Many would be surprised at seeing this side of Samus.  Her reputation was one of a person who cared only for combat.  One who lived and breathed violence of one kind or another.  A ruthless little bitch that probably delighted in drinking the blood of her fallen enemies. That was so far from the truth that it was laughable.  Yes, Samus enjoyed hunting and destroying/capturing a contract; after all, she was a bounty hunter.  But she enjoyed the quiet side of her life even more.  It was moments like these that lived for.  Quiet moments when she could relax and enjoy the fact that she had yet again survived impossible odds.

            She set the brush back in a drawer and walked out of the bathroom, heading towards her bed.

            "Computer. Lights off."

            Her small room was cloaked in darkness.  Practically falling into bed, Samus curled up in her blankets and lay silent.  As with most people, she did not instantly fall asleep.  Instead she let her thoughts wander, eventually coming to a line of thought that she often came to when she had time to relax and think.  What would she do with her future?  Admittedly, she liked bounty hunting, the thrill, the rush of adrenaline, and the sense of accomplishment.  But how long could her winning streak last?  How long would it be until she wound up dead, like so many other hunters?  All it took was one slip, one oversight, one miscalculation, and it was all over.  Her last encounter with Mother Brain had brought those facts front and center in her mind.  She had nearly bought it in that last fight.  And come even closer in the escape.  She really didn't want to die that way.  Alone on some backwater world, lying forgotten until somebody stumbled upon her earthly remains. Hell, she didn't want to die, period.  

So what could she do?  Her job wasn't done yet.  She still had her own personal little jihad against the pirates to complete. But what about after that?  Continue as a hunter?  There was that whole dying forgotten thing, which was regarded as the destiny of any hunter-everyone had a fuckup at least once in their career, and it only took one.  Re-enlist in the Terran Federation Marine Corps (TFMC)?  That had possibilities, but it wasn't much different from bounty hunting.  Mercenary?  Same thing.  Space pirate?  Not a chance in hell.  She'd kill herself first.  Smuggler?  Not her type of business.  Bodyguard?  Nope, again, not her type of business. Raise a family?  That was by far the most terrifying option she had thought of yet.  Her as a mother? She had no idea how to raise kids.  And who the hell would want to marry an ex-bounty hunter who would probably spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder?

She had thought of this before.  She knew what she was missing, and sometimes it got to her.  There were times she would have liked to have a good man at her side and a little voice to call her mommy, but she figured she had more important things to do at the moment.  Like wiping out the pirate guilds.  Besides, she liked single life.

[Maternal instinct I guess.]  She thought.

But right now all she wanted was to sleep.  She'd consider her life afterward.  She rolled over and closed her eyes.

If Samus had any idea of what was coming however, she would have considered her options far more closely.

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"Well done lieutenant."  X was surprised.  The ships' Intel crew had managed to pick up three separate engine trails.  Despite all the background radiation and debris leftover from the destruction of Zebes.  One trail was obviously Chozo in origin; probably from a small escape ship.  It would not be followed.

The Concordant had had several run-ins with the enigmatic race known as the Chozo.  All but one had been peaceful.  And that one hostile encounter had taught the Reploid Concordant Navy (RCN) that the Chozo was a race not to be screwed with.  Their technology was so far ahead of concordant tech that it made the RCN look primitive in comparison.  And the single Chozo ship that a loose-cannon navy captain opened fire on had wiped out a full destroyer squadron of twelve ships before jumping into hyperspace.  The concordant and the Chozo were on peaceful terms now -thank god- but they had made it very clear that they would remain not get involved in the Concordant's war against Zero.

The second emission trails' configuration pegged it as one left by a Maverick ship.  X had already called for it to be followed by a RCN dreadnought, the _Hephestus_.  His ship, the _Stormrunner, _was only a heavy cruiser.  Not suited for going alone into possibly hostile territory.

The third trail was obviously a Terran.  And it was also a very fresh one.  When the sensor crew followed the trail and managed to obtain a visual of the ship heading out of system.  The ship was moving at a decent clip, cruising at about one quarter light speed.  A small, yellow vessel, it was probably a patrol craft of some sort.

"We're in range to perform a deep scan of the ship sir."  Said the lieutenant in charge of the sensors.  "Do you want us to see who exactly this is?"

X nodded his head. "Go ahead."

The lieutenant tapped a few keys on his control board, scanning the small ship for any useful information or anomalies.  Scanning was as far as X was willing to go.  Reploids had gone five centuries making sure not to be noticed by any Terran ship.  X wasn't about to break that run of good luck just because he was curious.

"Seems to be a modified Terran Federation Navy assault ship."  The lieutenant reported.  "Four high-output engines, two separate shield generators, heavy weapon load too, and quite a bit of armor along with it.  This thing is definitely not normal military."

"How are you able to know that?" X asked.

"A ship like this would be too expensive to build and maintain in large numbers.  I'd bet a years pay that it's a fringe ship."

X raised one eyebrow.  'Fringe' normally meant something that operated outside the boundaries of legal activity.  "Smuggler then?  Or a Merc ship?"

"I doubt it." The lieutenant replied "It's too small to carry much cargo, so that rules out smuggling.  It could be a merc ship, but mercenaries rarely work in small groups, and that ship could only carry two or three people, max.  Especially with all those modifications."

"So, what do you think it is?"

"My guess would be a bounty hunter sir.  They normally work alone, and they seed a fast ship with good armor and heavy firepower in case a contract goes bad."

"Good job, lieutenant, anything else?"

"Not that I can see right now sir, whoever this is has scan-shielding, so it's messing up my readings…. Wait a sec, what the hell?"

X's attention was piqued at that remark.  "What, what is it?"

"HOLY SH-!  Sir, whoever is in there is in a whole new world of trouble, that ship is practically filled with the X-virus!"

[So much for not getting involved with a Terran ship.]  The thought flash through X's mind as he started giving orders, he activated his communicator.  "X to bridge, red alert, and move to intercept that ship!"

The reply was quick.  "Yes sir, moving to intercept."

Klaxon sirens wailed throughout the _Stormrunner _as the crew dropped whatever they were doing and scrambled to their stations.  Weapons activated, more security troops took up guard positions, sensitive information was locked down and _Stormrunner _was ready for battle.

"Commander!"  The sensor officer shouted as X ran for the door.

X spun on his foot to the lieutenant. "Yes?"

"My sensors are detecting a single form onboard the ship, human in origin."

X gritted his teeth.  "Damn, things just got more interesting."  He activated his comm. Again.  "Bridge, prepare a shuttle, and have Colonel Bastion meet me in launching bay two."

"Yes sir."

X cursed silently again, this intelligence gathering mission had just become a whole hell of a lot more difficult.


	3. A Knight in Blue Armor

* Dodges balls of fire, rocks, arrows, spears, missiles, bullets, plasma, sharp sticks, tables, chairs, rotten fruit, small children and everything else thrown at him by rabid readers screaming at him to WRITE FASTER. *

Huff, Huff…Dear God!  If I had known I would have gotten this kind of response…I still would have written it. J

Ok, here we go.  The long awaited third chapter of Paths of Life.  I would have had this done sooner, but I've had a case of writers block from hell, and then it's in-laws came for a visit.  Sorry for the delay, I'll get right to this.

Authors blathering:  Well now… It's been a while now, hasn't it?  To get this thing moving again, chapter three takes place during the end and immediately after the end of chapter two.  So, here is Chapter Three of Paths Of Life.  Brought to you by the one, the only, the great, the illustrious, the * smack * sorry, brought to you by Veritech.

Send C&C to: max_sterling83@yahoo.com

By the way, I've taken a vow of poverty; so if you want to annoy me, send money.

Again, the disclaimer is in chapter one.  If you want to read it again, go there.

Paths of Life Ch. 3:  Knight in Shining Blue Armor.

Part One: Agony

            It was 3:27 A.M.  A time that Samus considered absolutely asinine to be awake.  But awake she was.  Not because she wasn't tired, she was practically dead on her feet actually, but because of a pounding migraine that had stayed under the radar until it came at her from left field.  She _had_ been asleep, knowing it and loving it, for about four hours when this beast of a headache had slammed into her, well, head-on.  It took quite a bit to wake Samus up, but this throbbing head pain had dragged her from the land of blessed sleep to the land of the living with all the preamble and softness of a baseball bat to the face.  Samus had never woken up screaming before, so this was a first, until the sound of it seemed to rebound inside her skull, making the pain worse.  Even the light hum of the ships' engines was agonizing.

            Stumbling to her feet, Samus staggered towards her door.  Every movement seemed to increase the searing pain in her head, but as she moved, Samus discovered that it wasn't just her head that hurt.  Her sleep-muddled nerves had awakened to their own world of pain.  It hurt to move.  Samus felt like she was being torn apart from the inside out.  Somehow, even her _skin_ hurt.

            Samus knew damn well this wasn't just a case of nerves.  Something was very, very wrong with her, which was why she had moved from her room to the corridor, staggering towards the ships' well-equipped medical bay in hopes of finding out just what the hell was wrong.  While she was moving, what was extreme pain rose up to outright debilitating agony.  Her head suddenly felt like it was being slowly split in half, and an unmistakable _twisting_ sensation radiated from her midsection.  Falling to her hands and knees, Samus' mouth was wide open in a silent scream, her nerves seeming to have shut down.  Erupting into an excruciating sting of liquid coughing Samus felt and saw blood spraying from her mouth on the corridor floor.  The blood was so dark that it was almost black.

Then it came to her.  [No…NO! It's happening again… the virus; they said I was immune to it now…] 

It was her last coherent thought before she collapsed and lost consciousness.

Nearby, the blood Samus had coughed out onto the titanium floor began to _move_ congealing into a small circular puddle barely two inches in diameter and oozing down the corridor towards the armory. 

            The crew of the RCN _Stormrunner _had seen many things in their careers, but none of them could remember the last time they had seen their Commander charging full tilt down the corridors, that is, if they ever had seen X exhibit such behavior.  X rounded a corner and stopped before the door to the launch bay.  The door bisected down the middle, then slid open.  X ran into the cavernous hangar and spotted Bastion standing next to the open hatch of a shuttle.

            Bastion saw X and saluted "Sir, I was told by Lt. Commander Vesping to meet you here.  I assume this has something to do with that Terran ship"?

            X nodded his head as he climbed into the shuttle's pilot seat.  He gestured Bastion in.  "Yeah, we're going on a rescue mission".

            Bastion's curiosity was piqued as he climbed in.  "Rescue?"

            X began an abbreviated preflight check.  "One human, we'd normally leave this be, but that ship is practically glowing with the X-virus.  And I want you with me because I want a good pilot in control of this thing when I go aboard."

            "Go aboard!?"  Bastion was more than a little startled.  "But if the ship is infected"-

            "I'll be fine" X interrupted "I've been immune to all the virus' mutation so far, so I'm the best choice."

            Bastion couldn't really argue with a true statement.

            Giving the controls one final once-over, X called the bridge.  "X to Vesping."

            The reply was prompt.  "Vesping here sir."

            "You're in charge until I get back and out of decontamination Vesping."

            "Yes sir."

            "Good. We're ready for launch."

            "Opening bay doors."

            "Sir!" a voice broke in "Lt. Palus here, from Astrometrics. I've got a better sensor lock on the ship.  It's totally suffused with the virus, but there is a much denser concentration of it moving about a room in the ship."

            X nodded, even though Palus couldn't see him.  "Good job Lt. Anything else?"

            "Yes sir, the human contact is stationary, and has gone very faint."

            "Is it still active?" 

            "Yes sir, but very faint…and sir?"

            The shuttle left the ship and accelerated on an intercept course toward the Terran ship.  X didn't like the confusion in Palus' voice. "Spit it out Lt. We're on a tight time as is."

            "Well, sir, the virus infecting the ship is a mutation of the X-virus…but it's, uh…well, it's a _biological_ signature sir."

            If X was surprised, Bastion was thunderstruck "Biological?  Are you sure your sensors are right?"

            "Yes sir, Colonel, it's a pure biochemical signature.  No questions about it."

            X spoke again.  "Good job Lt. Palus, thanks for the heads up.  Anything else?"

            "No sir, that's it, I'll try to get a better reading on the human contact."

            "Good, do so.  X out."   X turned to Bastion.  "This changes things."

            Bastion agreed.  "So what now?"

            "I'll go aboard, as planned, and you'll stay here to pilot.  But when I come back with the human, we'll stay in the troop compartment.  Under full bio-lockdown, and we'll stay there until we reach the base orbiting Antiga."  X activated communications again.  "Vesping."

            "Sir?"

            "When we return from the Terran ship, I'm going to remain in full lockdown with the human here in the shuttle.  When we land, teleport in medical, food, and water supplies, then lay in a course for Antiga.  Understood?"

            "Yes sir."

            "Good.  X out."

            By now the shuttle was nearing the Terran ship.  X was about to call Vesping again, but she apparently was thinking thing the same thing he was.  A tractor beam shot out from the _Stormrunner _and latched hold of the ship.  The ships' engines, suddenly pushing on an immobile object, went to emergency shutdown.  Then the shuttle drew close to the ship, and X teleported aboard

It was a tense experience.  X was now onboard what was possibly a hostile vessel that was infected with the X-virus.  And he was alone.  Looking around him, X saw that he had come down in what appeared to be the living quarters of the ships sole crewmember.  The bed was empty, and then X moved to an open door, looking into a small, but efficient bathroom.  Judging from the personal effects on a dresser, the human he was looking for was female, not seeing her, X went through the only other door in the room.  Coming into the main corridor, X immediately found Samus lying unconscious on the deck, running up to her, X knelt next to her.

"X to Bastion".

"Bastion here".

"I've found her, prepare to receive."

"Yes sir."  Bastion looked back to make sure the bulkhead was sealed, and that the pilot compartment was totally sealed off from the troop compartment.  "Compartments are sealed, ready to…Sir!  Watch your back, I have movement!  Large concentration of viral material moving in on your six!"

X jumped to his feet and spun, bringing his X-buster up.  What he saw was a tall, humanoid form.  Obviously armored in a gold armor suit, with a blue overlay and red helmet.  He could not see through the faceplate.  He wasn't overly concerned with the face anyway, he was more worried about the cannon it had for a right arm.  He barely had time to dodge before it lunged at him, diving to the deck and rolling back to his feet X turned to face his opponent.  It wasn't aiming at him.  It had lunged to force him away from the woman, and was now aiming at her.  A blast of energy came from its cannon, but X had already moved.  The charge blast hit him on the frontal ridge of his chest plate causing very little damage.  Although it would have incinerated organic flesh.  The armored wielder of the cannon tried to raise its' cannon to him, but X had already fired.  The plasma shot took it full in the chest, and sent it sprawling.  It immediately rolled to is' feet and fired again.  This time X dodged, but he was more than a bit alarmed.

[That shot should have blasted through it like cheap tin!]

"Bastion!  Get ready, we're coming over!"  X put one hand on the woman's shoulder and raised his buster.  He fired, and then both he and the woman disappeared.  The plasma, however, was not aimed at X's attacker.  It was aimed at the hatch it had landed next to.  The shot slammed into the control panel, and the door flashed open.  Explosive decompression sucked the armored form off its' feet and out the hatchway before an emergency cover slammed over the opening.  The ship was once again silent.

Outside, the reincarnated form of SA-X drifted in space.  It was unharmed, for it would take more than a mere hard vacuum to kill the X-virus.  The viral construct knew what to do.  Silently, it sent out a signal, a signal that would be received by it's lord and master.  Yes, the return of SA-X would please its' master greatly.

Thousands of light-years away, Zero awoke from a nights slumber, and smiled.  The signal had been near instantaneous, not only did it provide a location to find his latest subject, it also provided images of all it had see and done thus far.  Samus Aran, an unwitting, but certainly worthy, enemy of Zero and his virus.  She had continually bested one of Zero's greatest creations, the Pirate guilds and Mother Brain. She had even defeated 'SA-X' once before.  But now her ultimate nemesis had returned.  She had almost been taken care of, but who should come to her rescue but none other than X.  Yes, now things would get interesting.

"Welcome to the front lines, Samus.  I _do_ so hope that you're as capable as your rescuer has been.  I know we'll have a lot of _fun_ together."

Well, there ends chapter three.  Four is up and coming-I HOPE.

Megaman X belongs to Capcom, Samus and Metroid belong to Nintendo.  I'm not making money off this, SO DON'T SUE!


	4. Sleeping Beauty: HalfUnconscious People ...

Ok, here's Chapter four enjoy.

Again, if for some obscure reason known only to god (and don't think I won't ask him) you feel like reading a disclaimer, go back to chapter one to quench your thirst for legal bull.

Oops.  One slight disclaim must be made.  Mechadrakes, and the character Red Draco, is the property of Red Draco (www.mechadrake.com).  The character Maq is the property of Maqqy96 (www.mhho.com.)

Also, there are terms mentioned here connected a fic I wrote that never got off the ground that will need clarifying.

Bio-Metal:  A metallic substance with biological properties.  Including those of natural growth, physical adaptation, and natural reproduction.  Each bio-metal 'strain' is as diverse and unique as human DNA.  Bio-metal is present in Reploids, Cybrids, and Bioroids.  Incredibly strong and resistant to damage.

Cybrid:  A child naturally born by the coupling of two reploids, one male, one female, instead of constructed.  Made up entirely of Bio-Metal.  Still vulnerable to digital-based viruses, though immune to biological threats.

Bioroid:  A being born from the coupling of a Reploid and Human parent.  Made up of both bio-metal and biological material.  Immune to digital viruses, but vulnerable to biological threats.

One little edit:  In prior chapters I've said that Samus' hair is russet brown.  I was working off a fan-drawn pic at the time.  Since then I've seen some of the official art from the end of Metroid Fusion and have learned that her hair is in fact blond.  That correction has been made in this chapter.

Paths of Life

Chapter Four

Sleeping Beauty: Half Unconscious People Say the Damndest Things.

Part One: Discoveries

  
          Three days.  Three days now he and the unknown woman he had literally pulled from death's claws had been inside the troop compartment of an assault shuttle.  She was sill unconscious, but she was recovering.  She was also clean-now.  When X had brought her aboard her front had been covered in dried choked up blood, and he had had to wash her off before treating her for extreme viral poisoning.  X was rather proud of himself for managing to remain in detached clinical professionalism while he cleaned off all the dried blood that had covered her. He'd had to remove her shirt to do so, and he had to admit that whoever this woman was, she was a _definite_ knockout.  She had a modest figure and was athletically built, but not overly muscular.  Slightly tanned skin and blond hair gave her a look that brought back memories of the forests on earth, and violet eyes.  However, X kept those thoughts locked up in the extreme reaches of the back of his mind as he was caring for her.  He was not going to succumb to Florence Nightingale syndrome.  Or risk getting himself killed by this woman when she woke up by letting his mind wander.  

X shuddered when he thought of the hell he was going to catch from his friends, Red Draco and Maq, when he got back to Antiga.  Maq _might_ leave him be, but he doubted it, and Red was going to have a blast giving him a hard time.

          It was about 10:00PM now, and X was winding down.  He had been rather surprised at how tiring it was to be the sole outlet of care for a person. It was amazing.  X didn't have more than a cursory understanding of modern medicine, but the _Stormrunner's _doctor, a female Bioroid named Juno, was able to walk him through administering antiviral drugs using the shuttle's comm. system.  And it seemed that X's ministrations were paying off.  She was actually moving a bit now, like she was in a deep sleep, rather than a coma, and X expected her to come out of it any day now.  

There was one very interesting thing about this woman however.  Scans had shown that her DNA wasn't entirely human.  99.7% of it was, but that point three percent was a glaring question mark that needed to be answered.  Juno had spent two days scanning the _Stormrunner's_ database before she found a match for it.  It was Metroid DNA.  Which explained why she was able to fight off the virus so quickly, let alone still be alive.  But there was one very large and prominent question.  How in the name of all that was holy did Metroid DNA get into her genetic structure?  For whatever reason, having that strain of Metroid DNA had some astounding effects, aside from saving her life.

After running tests on a blood sample, Juno had discovered an amazing regenerative capability.  She hypothesized that even regenerating a severed limb was well within this mystery woman's capability.  Juno had also found several bio-chemical tags that acted as 'antigerone' or, life extending.  Antigerone counteracted the chemicals in the human body that caused aging, theoretically making a human immortal, so determining her age would be all but impossible.  Her neural impulses fired at an increased rate as well.  Giving her a reaction speed many times that of a normal human.  

One thing that X had discovered as soon as he had picked this woman up to put her in bed was that she was a good deal heavier than she looked.  For her height and build, Juno figured she should mass about 140 pounds.  Instead she came damn near 200.  After some searching, Juno found why.  The Metroid DNA had re-enforced her skeleton and muscles.  Her bones were nearly as tough as a Bio-Metal skeleton, and while her muscles weren't big, they were extremely _dense_.  About fifty times denser than normal, making her a good twenty to thirty times stronger than even the strongest normal human.  Not quite as strong as a Reploid, but still truly amazing.  All this because Metroid DNA had been introduced to her body at some time, and made some changes.  X knew that metroids were notoriously hard to kill, he'd fought them himself, and that point three percent of this woman's DNA would make her just as tough and deadly.

X smiled down at her "An enigma, wrapped in a mystery, concealed in a puzzle, and hidden in shadow." He laughed softly "Comes very close to describing you."  X said as he covered her up with a blanket  "You'd probably be flattered to hear someone say that about you, wouldn't you?"  His patient, of course, said nothing.  Although she did mumble something incoherently, which was certainly a very good sign.

After finishing with tucking his patient in, X shook his head.  So many questions, not enough answers.  He'd find out more when his patient woke up, that he was sure of.  He sighed.  Four more days and they would be at the RCN starbase orbiting Antiga. Then he and his patient could be de-contaminated, and he could decide just what the hell he was supposed to do with a human from outside the Concordant.  X shook his head again, then tuned around to climb into the bunk across from his patient's.  His superiors we not going to be pleased, but he'd deal with that not-so-little problem later; right now he needed some sack time. 

Part 2: Awakenings

The pain was gone.  It took several moments for Samus' jaded nerves to detect that, but once they did, they began to basic startup procedures that a human body went through when waking up.  She groaned softly as she started to come to.  She wanted to go back to sleep.  The darkness that had overtaken her had been soft and comfortable, without pain, and safe.  She wanted to fall back into it, but even as she tried, her body informed her that such laxity would not be tolerated.  Finally opening her eyes it took Samus a moment to see that she wasn't in her ship.  That brought on a surge of near panic, until her eyes fell on the medical supplies next to the bed she was on.  It was doubtful that pirates would have provided her with medical care.  In fact, not many people would.  The Terran Federation Navy grouped bounty hunters together with mercs, smugglers, and drug dealers, and afforded them all the same treatment.  That being destruction on sight.  Her involvement with them was only because they considered her fully expendable.  She obviously wasn't on a Chozo ship, the technology wasn't right. In fact, she didn't recognize the technology that was onboard whatever craft this was.  And any other race would simply have left her ship to drift.  So who owned this ship?  Her eyes fell on the form of the sleeping being across from her.  Samus raised her eyebrows.  Whoever it was, they had helped her, and, even if he (she could tell this person was a man by his size) had some ulterior motive, she really wasn't in any position to do anything at the moment.  Coming to this logical decision, Samus shifted around in her bunk and settled in to observe the man who had saved her life.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]^_^

X's eyes popped open as his systems restarted.  After a moment he sat up and turned to look at his patient-and stopped dead. 

She was awake.  Not only awake, but lying on her side with her head propped up on her arm, looking at him curiously.  X looked right back.  He had always assumed that he would be caring for her when she awoke.  Perhaps as he was running a damp sponge across her forehead, or spooning broth into her mouth, but certainly not lying passively, watching him.  X swallowed and found the will to speak.

"Uh, hello."  Simple, yet effective [Well, that certainly sounded like you didn't make it up on the spot, you jackass] Funny, X didn't remember having a sarcastic conscience.

She blinked at him. "Hello yourself."  Her voice had softness to it; although it also had a no-nonsense quality as well, deep toned wasn't the right word, although it wasn't a high voice either and there was an inner strength there as well.

This conversation wasn't going the way X had planned it.  [Great, time to improvise.]  The thought went through his head [Hope I don't make a complete fool of myself.]  He rolled out of his bunk and stood up.  She Began to do the same, but stumbled as she came to her feet, her legs still weak from three days of being in a coma.  X stepped to her and held her up.  Samus was moderately surprised by this, but wasn't alarmed.  If he'd wanted to hurt her, he would have done so already.

"Well, uh…" X stumbled "I guess introductions are in order.  I'm Commander X, Reploid Concordant Navy."

Samus came to her feet, holding onto X's arm for support, she stood perhaps a inch or so shorter than him and wore a simple large T-shirt and a pair of shorts.  She quirked one eyebrow as questions ran through her mind.  [X?  What kind of name is X?  It sounds familiar though, where have I heard it before?  And that word 'Reploid'…that's framiliar too…]  She noticed that X was looking at her, waiting for her to speak.  "Sorry, I guess I'm still partly asleep.  My name's Samus.  Samus Aran."

X tilted his head to one side as the name registered.

"Samus Aran?  The same Samus that blew up SR388 and has been giving the pirate guilds such a hard time?"

Samus couldn't help smiling.

"Yes, the same.  Now is there any chance of you telling me just where I am, and how I got here?"

X smiled back.

"Certainly, but how about we talk sitting down, you probably should be on your feet for too long at a time, not to mention that you're probably hungry."

"Alright, and you're right, I'm starving."

X led Samus ahead to the pilot's compartment, the only place with seats that hadn't been converted to bunk space.  Samus sat down in the co-pilots seat.

"Well, there is a replicator onboard, what would you like for…" X looked at his wrist chrono "Brunch?"

Samus was looking out the canopy.  "Hmm?  Oh, sorry.  I'd kill for a strong cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal."

"Oatmeal?" X questioned.

"Yeah, I've loved it since I was a kid."

"Alright, coffee and oatmeal it is."

X tapped a few buttons on a small panel.  A faint shimmering appeared in a small alcove, and coalesced into a steaming bowl of thick oatmeal.  He tapped a few more, and two cups of hot coffee appeared.

"Well, here you go, uh, ma'am."  X set a cup of coffee on a tray and set it on Samus' lap.

"Please, just Samus, the only people who call me 'ma'am' are government officials and police officers." 

X chuckled.  "Ok.  I'll call you Samus if you call me X, all those 'sir's  and 'commanders' grate on my nerves."

Samus laughed softly as X sat down in the pilots seat.  "We'll get along just fine."

It was silent for a moment as both X and Samus looked out the canopy of the shuttle at the wall of the launching bay.

Samus looked over at X.  "So" she asked "Just why exactly am I here?"

Ok.  This seems like a good spot to stop.  Chapter five is under way, and it will be interesting.

Notes:  Hrmm.  Nothing to report really, send any questions, C&C, money, or reviews to: max_sterling83@yahoo.com.  Send and hate mail, rants on characterization, or tirades against crossovers to: Idontgiveashit@shutthefuckup.net 

Ja' ne.

Veritech


	5. Repercussions Musings in the night

* Comes up dragging a ball and chain labeled "work" attached to his  
ankle. *  
  
Ok, ok, I know it's been a long time. Assembled crowd: NO SHIT!!  
Hey, it's not my fault that my boss is a slave-driving bastard, I DO need to get paid after all. Anyway, here is Paths of Life Chapter Five. Brought to you by the master of literary creation, Veritech.  
  
Disclaimer: For god's sake, it's written on the first damn page, how many times must I say this? Stop looking for legal hoop-jumping and get on with reading the real story.  
  
Paths of Life: Chapter Five  
Repercussions / Musings in the night  
By: Veritech  
  
"You understand, Commander, that the actions taken in this situation have been far from ideal, and have, in fact, violated statutes passed by the Council."  
Commander Maq, Reploid Concordant Navy, commanding officer of the Battleship Isis and friend of Commander X thought happy thoughts and worked to keep herself from putting the greasy politician she was taking to in his place. "Yes, Councilwoman Trent, what are your orders?"  
  
Trent ignored Maq's question and continued on with her rant. "This is the third time Commander X has disregarded orders given by the council with full knowledge of his actions, using his standing with the rest of the Concordant population to shield him from the legal chastisement of properly constituted civilian authority." The councilwoman narrowed her eyes, looking under her brow and puffing out her cheeks. "This is the last time." When, she thought, would people come to realize that the military existed to carry out the will of elected civilian officials? "Your orders, approved by the council, are to make all due haste to intercept the Stormrunner and bring Commander X, as well as the woman he rescued -against standing order- into custody. Then to bring them both to the Council Chamber on Centris to be reviewed by the Naval Oversight Committee."  
  
Maq choked down a scathing retort to Councilwoman Trent's orders and was about to firmly -bust respectfully, or course- object to the orders, but the councilwoman terminated the comm. link before Maq could speak. Maq sat behind her desk seething for a moment, damming every slimeball politician in existence to hell, until she managed to reel herself back in under control. It wasn't the first time, she thought to herself, that good warriors had been betrayed and written off by the political swine they served, and she doubted that this incident would be the last. "Damn it, and damn you to whatever cesspit you slithered out of Trent."  
  
This wasn't the first clash between X and Trent. That particular pile of filth had had it in for X since the day her corporate-world friends in the Liberal Progressive party had bought her into office. The bitch just couldn't seem to understand why X, a single warrior, had more power with both the military and the populace at large no matter what rank he held, than she and her party's political empire could ever hope to wield.  
  
[It might have something to do with the fact that X has almost 700 years of experience behind him. Not to mention that he's a hero of every single Maverick war since 21XX, and the founding father of the Concordant. Maq thought. He's EARNED his standing, not bought it. He's not just Commander X, the soldier, he's a fucking historical figure that children in school read about in their history books.]  
  
Those facts had immediately made X the number one enemy of the entire Liberal Progressive Party. They had labored mightily to discredit X, and even harder to strip him of his authority. After X's first "transgression" against the dictates of the council (he had, in fact, been acting in accordance with laws set in place by the council he himself had headed two-hundred years before the current council had rewritten them) in which he had covertly escorted a Terran colonization ship through Pirate space, the Lib-Progs had tried to have him court- martialed and stripped of all military power. That hadn't gone over well. After amazing amounts of support from the civilian populace for X, and hard political fighting from the military's representative to the council, First Admiral Katsuragi and her supporters, the council -Trent mostly- had been forced to live with just demoting X from Third-Admiral to Admiral (only two steps down the command chain). Three years later X, and the ship he had then commanded, the dreadnought Paladin, had singly fought a frontline combat action against three Pirate cruisers and a Maverick battleship to protect that same group of colonists on their new world. After that, the council had tried to demote him again, only to run into a brick wall of support from all directions, especially the human citizens of the concordant. So Trent had to go with merely putting X on probation for six months, and reassigning him to a battleship command. Not even a year after that, X, commanding the battleship Alia had openly, and blatantly come the assistance of Terran Federation Navy ships fighting Pirate and Maverick vessels over the planet SR388, he had maintained communication silence, but the presence of a RCN battleship in full offensive mode is a hard thing to hide from sensors. That action had enraged the whole council, even First Admiral Katsuragi. Since the citizenry still gave outstanding amounts of support, X had been demoted again instead of court-martialed. He went from Admiral to Commander, a huge five-step drop in rank, and got reassigned from his beloved battleship Alia to the heavy cruiser Stormrunner. Each time the moral ground had been fully on his side of every argument. He had been carrying out the first directive of the entire Reploid Concordant Military: Defend any Terran ship, colony or world from any attack made by Maverick forces. And since Zero had created Mother Brain and the Pirate guilds, that directive had extended to them as well. But the council had enacted laws to make stealth and secrecy more important than protecting the Terran race, hence all the trouble X had been in. And now X had flaunted the council again, although this time FA Katsuragi wouldn't be out for his blood, so he wouldn't get hit too hard.  
  
Maq shook those thoughts from her head and tried to focus on the task at hand. As much as she hated it, and her orders, and Trent, she still had an iron-hard duty to carry those orders out. Unlike X she had no grounds for breaking them, and unlike X, she wasn't a war hero. So now Maq had to intercept and capture one of her greatest friends. She wasn't going to like this mission, nobody on her ship would. But them again, they didn't have to like it, they just had to do it.  
  
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] [][][][]^_^  
  
The shuttles lights were off, and both Samus and X were going about getting some shut-eye. Well, X was getting some sleep. Samus was restless, tossing and turning in her bunk trying to get comfortable enough to slip into temporary oblivion.  
  
[Dammit, I just can't get comfortable! Why the hell is this happening, I've slept in this bunk fine for three days for gods sake, I'm used to it now.]  
She tossed.  
She turned.  
She punched her pillow, turned it over to the cooler side, and lay back down.  
More tossing.  
More turning.  
[DAMMIT! I hate temporary insomnia!]  
  
Flopping down onto her back, Samus tried in vain to get control of her wandering thoughts, thoughts that had been plaguing her since earlier that morning.  
The trouble had stemmed from the fact that she was trapped in this small shuttle, unable to leave, with X, A man who had saved her life, and in three short days, had become a friend. That was rather strange for Samus. She was notorious for being hard to get along with, and even harder to befriend. Thus far, the only humans to ever be befriended by Samus were a fellow bounty hunter named Sam Houston, and Sullina Julianno, a mercenary that had helped re-introduce Samus to Humanity after she had left the Chozo. But that was only a small part of the problem that was keeping Samus awake. She was trapped here, that she wasn't upset about; the X- virus was not something to mess with lightly, so she understood the security. No, the problem was whom she was trapped with. Not all who he was, but what he was. That being a good hearted, kind, but undeniably brave and devastatingly handsome man.  
  
The mere beginning of that line of thought made Samus' thoughts wander to places she'd rather not have them go-at the moment. [God's sake, girl, cool yourself off.] She tried, with no success. [He's not a side of beef Samus!] For some odd reason, that brought the image of X walking in front of her into the cocpit. They way his uniform pants formed to his body, especially that perfectly trim ass- Samus chopped off the thought like a gangrenic limb. [THINK girl! The main reason you're dwelling on him in your head is because it's been a damn long time since you've had any good male company. Good meaning he's a good man and not trying to get into your pants. Not that I would probably object to him trying.NO DAMMIT, OUT WITH YOU, EVIL THOUGHT! OUT! OUT!]  
  
Samus rolled over again and punched her pillow. No effect, her mind still wandered to the man sleeping across the three feet of open space between their bunks.  
  
She knew full well why she was reacting this way. Part of it was that she was a bit lonely for some form of companionship from the opposite gender, that wasn't anything bad, or a weakness, she WAS human after all, and had spent almost her entire life away from any human contact. X's actions had kicked the rest of them off. He had gone into her ship, knowing that it was a dangerous and extremely hostile environment, without support and knowing that he'd end up in containment. For the sole reason of rescuing a single person, that was a kind a bravery that didn't exist often in the single-minded world of bounty hunters and mercenaries that she came from. After that he has cared and nursed her unconscious body until she came around, again, something she never would have expected. And when she finally had come to, he had retreated to a safe distance (figuratively speaking, especially in this cramped shuttle) and helped her recover fully. All without uttering a single pick up line or trying anything that could even vaguely be considered a come on. She almost wanted him to, no, with the way she'd been thinking, she did want him to. [STOP IT!] At least part of her was still willing to think rationally.  
  
Another thing was that the way he was slightly nervous around her was unbearably cute. The way he would carefully choose words, or scratch the back of his head when he was afraid of offending her or embarrassed. Or laughing at even the dumbest jokes she put out, as if he was trying to make her more comfortable. She knew the signs. He did find her attractive. The saying "If you got it flaunt it" normally didn't apply to her. She certainly knew that she had it, and that wasn't an overabundance of pride either, she'd been told, by both men and women, that she was very attractive. She just wasn't one to flaunt it. Hell, it was kind of hard to when the clothes you normally wore were crafted of titanium alloy and ballistic polymers rather than satin and silk.  
  
[Stop thinking about him!] The independent part of her mind screamed. [I can't help it!] The rest of her mind shot back.  
  
The final thing was just how gorgeous he was. She was tall, exactly 6'0", X stood maybe an inch taller, his dark brown hair was always unruly, like a permanent case of helmet-hair, but what might have been seen as slovenly on most others was enhancing for him. His green eyes were emerald sharp, and seemed to carry a sense of kind innocence along with unwavering strength and loyalty. Finally, he had the body that would have put a Greek god of myth to shame. She knew that for a fact, because she had caught a glimpse of him changing his shirt after he had finished repairing the replicator. Thin, but not skinny, muscular, but not built, everything perfectly proportioned and sculpted in perfect form that shifted in harmony when he moved.  
  
[For heaven's sake girl, stop acting like a hormone-crazed teenager. Yes, he's easily to best looking guy you've ever come across, and he's got the heart and soul of a Paladin to boot, but that doesn't mean you need to go panting after him like a dog in heat. Focus on those mental exercises you learned with the Chozo, not X's body. There you go. Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean.]  
  
[Hmmm. X's armor is that same shade of blue.] [Knock it off!]  
  
Eventually forcing her mind into a semblance of order, Samus fell asleep.  
  
[][][][][][][][][][][] Am I evil, or what? [][][][][][][][][][][][]^_^  
  
When Stormrunner dropped out of hyperspace, Isis was waiting. Captain Vesping, who was commanding Stormrunner in X's absence, was more than a bit surprised when she received a priority one hail from the battleship.  
As soon as X's heavy cruiser dropped into realspace, Maq sent out a hail to inform her friend that he was being escorted to Centris. However, the face she saw on the main viewscreen was not that of her old friend.  
  
"Commander Maq, this is Captain Vesping, what's the problem?"  
  
Maq recovered from her startlement and spoke her reply. "Captain, I need to speak with Commander X."  
"Commander X is in full bio-containment with the woman he rescued, Commander Maq. They're both in the shuttle used in the operation, in full lockdown in shuttlebay one."  
"Can I speak with him?"  
"Or course, I'll reroute communications to the shuttle."  
On the Isis the screen went blank for a moment, only to re-activate a second later to bring the view of the cocpit of a standard RCN shuttle. The door behind the two seats opened, and X, followed by a woman Maq didn't recognize stepped through and sat sown in the pilots and copilot seats. X was the first to speak.  
"Hey Maq, long time no see. What are you doing in this sector?"  
  
[Dear god, he hasn't figured out why I'm here] Maq looked gravely at the screen. "X, as much as I wish otherwise, I'm not here to catch up on what we've been doing since we last met."  
X met Maq's gaze and now had the same kind of serious look she had. Samus sat silent, a tight feeling in the pit of her stomach.  
"Let me guess why you're here instead of patrolling." X said, "The council, let me rephrase that, the idiot-bitch Trent gave you orders to arrest me and take Samus into custody?"  
Maq sighed. "Sadly, yes. X, dammit, you know damn well what Trent thinks of you, and you also knew what would happen when you stepped into this situation. I don't agree with my orders. I support you, you know that, but I don't have your background. And even if I did, I still couldn't refuse this order. And yes, I do know that the only reason Trent called for me and the Isis to take this mission is to test my loyalty-"  
"Maq, I don't blame you" X interrupted "And yes, I did know all of that. So I can assume that I can consider myself in your custody?"  
Maq sighed again. "Not quite that far. I was to order you to put Stormrunner under the command of Vesping, but you've already done that out of safety, so now all I need you to do is for both of you to stay in that shuttle until I escort the Stormrunner to Centris."  
X smiled sarcastically. "So, Trent's going to push for me to get demoted again, eh?"  
Maq met his smile. "Probably, although Katsuragi is putting a block on that, saying you were following the First Directive, and that's something Trent can't get through in this case, as you haven't really violated any laws -this time."  
"I do have a reputation for disregarding the will of, how does that stupid bitch put it? 'Properly constituted civilian authority' don't I?"  
"That would win the understatement of the year award. So you and you're new friend there will be a good little boy and girl and stay in that shuttle until I escort you to Centris, right?"  
"We were planning on staying here until we got to Antiga for decontamination. Actually we need to, I think both Samus and I would like to get out of here, it's a little cramped."  
  
[Again, understatement] Samus thought [Although I do like having him bump into me.] [I thought I told you to stop that.]  
  
"Makes sense" Maq said "Well, Antiga is only twelve hours away now, so I'll escort you there, then get you both to Centris after you get decontaminated."  
"Sounds good to me" X replied "See you then" He switched off the screen and turned to Samus. "Well, looks like you'll get to see the slimy political side of the Concordant before the good parts, sorry."  
Samus laughed, "It's okay, I've dealt with political types before. But aren't you a bit cheery for a man about to face a tribunal?"  
"It's nothing so serious as that." X said "Councilwoman Trent has had it in for me ever since I had her brother court-martialed for cowardice in the face of the enemy. So he never misses a chance to have me on trial for any reason."  
Samus fully understood. "Politicians and military don't mix."  
"That they don't" X smiled at her. "Well, it's 0500, Oatmeal again?"  
"No thanks, if it's allright, I'd like to get a few more hours sleep, I guess I'm still recovering from that virus."  
X made a dismissive gesture "You don't even need to ask, in fact, it's a damn good idea, I think I'll follow you on it."  
  
[Oh, how much that can be misconstrued, should I take him up on it?] [Not again, you know he didn't mean it like that.] [If he did, I'd be hard pressed not to take him up on it.] [* Sigh * Calm blue ocean, Samus, calm blue ocean.]  
  
X got up ad headed for the door. "In twelve hours we'll be ready to get out in the open again, so you'll probably want some more rest anyway." The door slid open and he walked out, followed by Samus, who watched him walk. [Stop looking at that Samus] Samus crawled back into her bunk and slid back off into sleep.  
  
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]^_^  
  
At the same time as Samus and X were falling back asleep, hundreds of light years away, a different scene was playing out.  
  
In a dark cavern complex, buried deep in an obsidian mountain a figure in blue and gold armor was kneeling before a man in red armor and with long golden hair sitting on a throne made of basalt and bones.  
  
"I have returned, master."  
  
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]  
  
Dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnn. Nice ending no? It was too, shut up!  
  
Ok, before every rabid Samus fan comes running after me with pitchforks and torches, let me explain Samus in this chapter.  
I wanted to make Samus seem more human. As she has almost no known character background pertaining to what she is like, I had to make it up. And no, I'm not going to portray her as some giddy schoolgirl. On the shuttle, she's experiencing a sense of infatuation. Nothing more. And no, nothing will come of this bit. Samus may be noticing how attractive X is, but despite her thoughts, she's still not about to jump into bed with him.  
Have I explained myself now? Good. No put the sharp objects donw nad extinguish those torches.  
  
I'm starting Chapter Six right after I finish this chapter. So hopefully it won't be such a long wait this time.  
  
Send reviews, ideas, money and feedback to: max_sterling83@yahoo.com 


	6. Order and Chaos

Attention Lawyers! If you want to see the disclaimer, go to Page One, Chapter One, and your indignation at my use of Capcom's and Nintendo's property will be quelled.

*Authors Hoopla: Here's Chapter Six, out a lot sooner than #5, longer, stronger, and with more staying power than ever before.  Enjoy.

[][][][][][][][][][][][]^_^

I present Chapter Six of Paths of Life; I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

Paths of Life, Chapter Six: Order and Chaos / Cleanliness and Godliness

Written By: Veritech

New Email: Leo_Koz@yahoo.com

Part One: The Mission of Absolute Order

            The corridor was long, dim, and perfectly square.  The walls, floor, and ceiling were carved of black granite, and perfectly smooth.  A single track of white lights ran down the exact center of the ceiling, giving off perhaps 40 watts of light, though that could be increased to near-blinding if the need arose.  The stone deadened sound, the sounds of titanium-encased boots striking the granite floor strangely hallow, the air was cool, and well circulating, but smelled of damp vent shafts and a tinge of dust.  Together, the dark stone, the cool, damp and duct scented air, the dim lighting, and the hollow, deadened sounds made it seem as one was inside a tomb.  Which was exactly the Zero liked it; other places in the stronghold had the hustle and bustle of an active military base, but not here.  Here it was silent, the silence of death.

            Death was his life's mission.  Death of humanity, death of corruption, death of imperfection, death of life... Human life.  It was ironic that he was born one of the very human imperfections that he worked to destroy, the imperfection of ambition.  He was born of the want to play god.  Dr. Wily had wanted to create a utopia in his image, a perfect word, populated by a perfect people.  No hate, no corruption, no barriers, none of the imperfections that made humans what they were.   None of the impurities that made humanity unfit to inherit the universe.  And so Dr. wily had created Zero to be his herald of true order and peace.   He created Zero to cleanse the world, the galaxy, the _universe_, of all the imperfections of life.  He created Zero to be the true father of the one truly perfect race.  And to do that, Zero must first destroy humanity.  The race that had created him, the race that had created their superiors in the forms of Reploids.  Which was why it pained Zero so much to see Reploids fighting Reploids, as if they were the same lesser beings that had created them.  Why did X fight him?  Why could Light's creation not see the truth of Wily's mission?  Why did X not recognize that the humans were the cause of the strife that had hurt him so much?  Why did X not see the truth, the _right _of Wily and Zero's work?  X fought for peace, but did he not see that Zero brought the peace that humans so craved?  To their chaotic lives he brought order.  To all their imperfections and hard existence, he brought the pristine, totally equal and peaceful state of death.  Why did X not see and know this?  Why did he not see that Zero was actually doing the humans a service?  Taking their lives, and replacing them so that Reploids, a race stronger and hardier than they, would face the hard realities of the universe rather than them, saving them from the chaos of their own lives?   While Reploids lived and faced the universe, he gave humans the true peace that they wanted.  Why did X not understand?  Humans thought that the afterlife was paradise, so why did they resist so fervently when he only sought to send them to that paradise?

These thoughts and questions plagued Zero as he walked down the tomb like corridor to his audience chamber.  While walking, Zero took note of the total perfection of the corridor's design.  Everything equal, everything pristine, it was moving in its stasis, it showed Zero that his mission of total order and perfection was not futile, that one day, he would hold sway over a universe cleaned of chaos, a universe of total order and peace, a universe of perfection.  

It was ironic that the humans thought he was the embodiment of chaos and everything evil, and yet he lived in a stronghold made of perfect angles and symmetric shapes.  No, Zero thought, he was not chaos; he was true order, the order of emptiness, the order of the cold vacuum of space, the order of death. X, and his Concordant that the humans loved so; they were the chaos, the chaos of humans, the chaos of life.  And Zero only wished to bring order to chaos.  That was, after all, the reason he was created.

The hollow, deadened footsteps echoed as Zero walked down the corridor, fading until they stopped when Zero sat down in his solid throne of black stone, ending the sounds that were the only signs of life in his tomb of absolute order.

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            The Battleship Isis appeared out of a hyperspace portal three light-minutes out from the Antiga starbase.  The Stormrunner followed, then a third ship, a destroyer, the Arcanum, followed behind Stormrunner, a small modified Terran assault shuttle held in its tractor beam.  Maq opened a comm. Channel to the starbase.

"Antiga control, this is Commander Maq, Isis escort, requesting pattern insertion with possible level six biological threat for decontamination."

The control was noticeably shocked to say the least, a female voice came over the comm., and the face of a red-haired woman with blue eyes came on screen. "Say again, Isis escort.  Level Six?"

"Affirmative, Antiga control, is there a problem?" Maq did not like repeating herself.

"Uh, negative Isis, I just need to get my superior to authorize such a high risk contamination."

"Who am I speaking to?" Maq's voice was flint.

"Uh… Lieutenant (jg) Langley, ma'am." The newly minted Lt. Obviously feared getting demoted.

"Well, Lieutenant, just put the Admiral on the line, and I'll discuss this with her."

"Uh..Uhm.."

"That's and order Lieutenant." Maq's voice somehow got colder "Or do you want to be a Corporal again?"

"Yes ma'am! No ma'am! I'll get the Admiral immediately."

Maq's voice went from artic to sunny "Thank you Lieutenant."

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

"Admiral?" Lt. Langley's voice came from the computer on the desk.  The blue and white armored Reploid reached out and tapped a key.  

"Yes Lieutenant?" Her voice was soft and musical, despite her reputation.

"Ma'am, there's a Commander Maq in command of the battleship Isis requesting insertion, she's escorting a possible level six biological contaminant here for decontamination procedures, do I let her in?"

"Commander Maq?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Who's she escorting?"

"Uh, she said the Stormrunner, Admiral. Hey, isn't that the ship under Comm-" the Admiral interrupted Langley.

"Yes, Commander X.  Tell Commander Maq to hold, I'll see to this myself."  She disconnected Langley and called the Isis from her office.

 [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

            Maq sat back in her command chair and tried to contain her mirth, but was unable to totally, so a smile showed through.  She knew who was in charge of the Antiga starbase, was close friends with her in fact, and couldn't resist twisting her tail.

            "Commander" said an ensign at the comm. station "We're being hailed by the starbase again."

            Maq smiled "I'll take in my ready room."  She got up and went through the doors to her small office.  Once behind her desk, she activated the comm. The Admiral appeared on the screen.

            "Maq" said the admiral.

            "Iris" Maq responded.

            Admiral Iris smiled and shook her head "Just what kind of trouble did X get himself into this time?" She tried to sound stern, but failed.

            Maq made a dismissive gesture "Oh, the usual, investigating Maverick activity, getting involved with Terran ships, rescuing a beautiful woman and getting exposed to the X-virus.  All in a day's work for X."

            "WHAT!?!"

            Maq smiled again –evilly- " I said 'Oh the Usual-"

            "I got that part, I mean the third thing you said he did."

            Maq had to resist an evil chuckle; she loved teasing Iris about stuff like this "Oh, the rescuing the beautiful woman part?  Yeah, apparently, she was on a ship with huge amounts of X-virus activity on it, so X went it, engaged in a short firefight with some kind of viral construct, and got the woman out."

            Iris sighed, "When did he become a knight in shining armor?" That question was directed at herself, though Maq still answered.

            "He always has been, you know that."

            "I know, Maq, it was rhetorical.  Who is she?"

            Maq checked the file; she hadn't had a chance to talk to either of them much, too busy "Hmm. Oh boy, this is good."

            Iris looked interested "What?"

            Maq looked back at Iris "Her name's Samus Aran."

            Iris blinked a few times, searching her memory, then her eyes got wide.

            "Yes, THAT Samus Aran." Said Maq "This ought to prove interesting, the Intel boys have wanted to talk to her for years."

            Iris was shaken, but intrigued "Well, bring them in, you have them contained?"

            Maq was now just as serious as Iris, humor had it's place, and it wasn't now "Yes, they've been inside the shuttle X used in the operation, the shuttle is in full lockdown, the shuttlebay in decompressed, and under full Ultraviolet bombardment."

            Iris looked up from delivering the order to Lt. Langley "How long have they been in there?"

            Maq had to smile again "About five days."

            Iris buried her face in her hands "Oh no, if those two…"

            "I doubt they would, Iris" Maq assured her friend "X isn't like that, and Samus seems sensible."

            Iris shook her head "I hope so."

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Part Two: Cleaning up and visions of heaven.

            The shuttle was moving, much to Samus' relief, albeit slowly.  The accommodations were nice enough, actually comfortable, and she liked X's company and all, but living for five days in a very confined space got annoying.  At least there was entertainment.   Samus loved to read, and the shuttle's computer could put near any piece of literature she could think of up on a datapad.   Aside from reading, there was X to talk to, and music could be obtained through a secure, protected, one-way only remote data connection.  Not that she had much time for any of that.  The resurgence of the X-virus in her body had taken al lot out of her, and many times, she would awaken, only to eat and fall into her bunk again for another ten hours sleep.  Her strength was returning though, and it had been two days since she had last collapsed into bed.  She also had medical examinations, performed by X, under the watchful eyes of the ships doctor over the communications system.  Taking blood samples, antiviral drugs and the like.  She didn't mind the taking blood part, she never had been afraid of needles, but the drugs were the kind swallowed, they had the texture of chalk and a taste that was worse.  Thank god for replicotors.

            She had drunk one of the antiviral serums about en minutes ago, leaving a slimy film in her mouth and a nasty aftertaste in the back of her throat.  "Ugh, I hate this stuff."

            X looked pitying "Sorry, but it can't be helped.  Any flavoring ruins the serum."

            Samus chuckled "I know, you said that last time, but I can't help complaining, this is really bad stuff.  Are you absolutely sure that I can't eat or drink anything but water for the next hour?"  Water helped, some.  It got rid of the slimy feeling in her mouth and washed out the aftertaste, but would make her lightheaded.  A small price to pay, in her mind.

            X sighed, "Yes, sorry."

            "You don't need to apologize for it X, don't worry about it." She smiled and swung her legs over the edge of her bunk "Besides, at least I'm alive, so I have no right to bitch."

            X laughed "Okay then.  I'll stop apologizing, if you stop remarking on the taste of the serum.  Deal?"  He was smiling as he said it, showing it to be a joke.

            "Deal.

#=====#

            It took half an hour to tractor the shuttle from Stormrunner's boat bay to the main shuttlebay of the starbase.  Upon landing, a containment team, actually a squad of Concordant Marines, headed by Doctor Juno rushed to the main hatch of the shuttle.  The door hissed open, revealing X and Samus, who were standing, waiting.

            "Commander X, Ms. Aran." Juno walked up to them, holding two hasmat suits like the ones she and the rest of the team were wearing. "Put these on please, we don't want any contact between you and any portion of the ship or it's crew before you're checked and decontaminated."

            "Allright." X took both suits and handed one to Samus.  A few minutes later, both were garbed in the biosuits.  "Lead the way Doctor."

            "Yes sir.  If you would please follow me."

            X and Samus fell in side by side, surrounded by armed Marines.  Unlike x, Samus, and Doctor Juno, the Marines were wearing self-contained powered armor, rather than a biosuit.  Surprisingly, Samus found herself a bit intimidated by all the firepower surrounding them.  Even in her powersuit, these armored soldiers would have proved more than a match for her, and in the presence of these professionals, she was reminded of just how frail a human body was in comparison to armor composites and energy weapons.  She was also startled that a whole squad was present, why all the security? Sure the X-virus was dangerous, but contained as they were, it wasn't a threat was it?

            "I know, humbling, isn't it?"

            Samus' head turned in surprise at X's remark. "What?"

            X gave her an understanding smile "The look on your face tells the story, I feel the same way.  I'm used to being in armor and carrying a plasma buster most of the time.  All of it is necessary, sadly.  You know how the virus can hijack your nervous system, if it takes control of our bodies, these Marines are the only thing between us and the ship's systems."

            [_Why didn't I think of that?_]She thought [_It's obvious, it happened the last time I encountered the X-virus._]

            But for some reason that thought didn't bring any comfort.  Samus didn't fear much, and had faced death so many times she had lost count.  She'd been wounded before, sometimes severely, but had always fought through.  She'd faced pirates, metroids, and Mother Brain, but she **feared **the X-virus.  It was an enemy she couldn't fight on her terms.  Her armor and her training were no protection from it, only her body's own defenses could fight it, and then, ever after all the biological and genetic enhance she'd had, she still had proven vulnerable to it.  The X-virus was an enemy she couldn't fight.  And now she had it again.  X had told her that the drugs he had to give her only put the virus into remission; only the medical facilities at the Antiga starbase had what was needed to purge her body of the virus.  And even then, her body would still need to adapt to prevent another infection.  She knew she wasn't helping herself thinking like this, but she couldn't help it.  Looking over at X, she saw the look on his face was just as tense and worried as hers probably was.

            Samus was not far from the truth.  X's thoughts were almost a carbon copy of hers, though he had even more to fear.  Samus was human, and therefore could adapt, and had a viscous immune system that constantly learned and grew to fight new infections; X's antiviral systems and protocols were not so robust.  The only reason he had proven immune to the X-virus so far was because he shared the same baseline code it used in all it's incarnations.  But X also knew that the virus constantly adapted and mutated, concordant doctors still hadn't found a cure for the X-virus that worked on reploids, so if it ever found a way around his antiviral system, he was doomed, and if that happened, the whole concordant would soon follow, as every reploid in it had antiviral systems based of his. That was the only thing that kept them all safe, one small line of  700 year old reploid source code invented by the greatest scientific genius in human history.  He looked over at Samus, perhaps she held the answer, she'd been infected once before, and had managed to fight the virus off, so maybe her body held the secret of finally beating the X-virus.  X held that hope close.

            Samus looked at X and saw fear, one deeper even than her own, but also a flash of hope.  Hope in her, though she didn't know why.  They were kindred spirits really, two humans facing the deadliest virus ever known.  Without thinking, she slid her left hand into his right, giving a light squeeze.  X squeezed back softly, now at least, both knew they had an ally in this fight.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

            X and Samus entered the medical by in silence.  Juno led the way, and the Marines paired off four at the entrance, two each for X and Samus, and two went to the main computer terminal, the last two remained outside, guarding the other side of the door.

            Juno went to Samus and ushered her into a small room adjoining the medbay, a table was against one wall, a small bed against another, and occupying one corner, built into the walls, was a large cylinder.  Juno tapped a few keys on a control pad, and a door slid up, revealing the inside of the cyninder.  "Now, Ms. Aran-" 

            "Please," said Samus "Call me Samus."

            "Very well, Samus.  I'm going to scan you to see how far the virus has spread in your body, please strip and step into this scanner."

            In another adjoining room, X was receiving the same treatment, standing naked in the scanner as deep penetration medical sensors went over every inch of his body.  The doctor assigned to him, a human named Remsfield worked the scanner.  Roughly ten minutes later, the scanner finished, and X stepped out to put on his clothes again.

            "Well, Commander, I have good news, you're clean."

            X looked the man in the eye "You're certain?"

            "Yes, totally.  Your antiviral systems are still 100% effective."

            X let out the breath he was unconsciously holding "Thank god."

            "Yes, you should."  

            "You're clear of infection, Samus."

            Samus sighed as the tension drained out of her; she took her clothes back from Juno. "Thank you."  Juno simply nodded absently, wholly absorbed in the data she was reading on her datapad.

            "One last thing, Samus.  I need to take a blood sample. The sensors show that your body is producing X-virus antibodies; we've been trying to engineer them for years, but haven't got far. If you would consent, I'd like to get a sample from you, hopefully we can produce a vaccine, or even a cure."

            Samus didn't even need to think about something like that.  Wordlessly, she held out her right arm.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

            Samus and X walked out of the medbay with a sense of relief and ran into Maq on their way out.

            "Hey you two.  I take it the news was good?" Maq asked.

            X smiled "Better than ever.  Though we were both lucky."

            "I may have even helped a bit." Samus added, "I've survived the X-virus before, so the doctor wanted a blood sample, she hopes they can engineer a vaccine against the virus."

            Maq nodded "I'll definitely have that, we need it.  Well, it's late, and you both look ready to drop, but as they say, no rest for the wicked.  The council want the both of you at Centris ASAP, so you'll have to come with me to the Isis."

            X's face went from happy to sour "I had almost forgotten that."

            Samus looked from Maq to X "What's this about? Why do we need to go?"

            Maq smirked "X has many, many political enemies, and they're always searching for ways to wreck his career, this is what, act four?"

            "Five" X corrected, "You're forgetting when I had Prime Minister Klein's brother shot for cowardice in the face of the enemy." 

            Samus winced at that "No wonder you have political enemies.  But how do I fit in with all this?"

            Maq took a deep breath "Technically, X violated standing order when he went in after you.  RCN ships are not to become involved with Terran vessels; we're supposed to remain unknown to your race.  For now.  Because he violated that order, a stupid order, but still an order, he has to face the council.  This isn't the fist time, probably not the last either, knowing you." She gave X a false stern look.

            "What can I say? I'm a natural born rebel."

            Though what Maq said had raised more questions in her mind, Samus decided to ask them later.  "So, why does the council want to see me?"

            "Probably just to ask questions.  Though if Trent manages to browbeat enough councilors, she'll push for a selective memory wipe."

            Sam became more than a little alarmed at that, but X stepped in "That never happens.  She's been pushing to make it legal for six years now, and she's still alone on the issue.  They'll ask you questions, and that's about it."

            Samus looked worried "You're sure?"

            "Positive" X answered "And even if they try it, they have to get through me first, and if the council moves on me, they'll have more trouble on their hands than they can deal with, the fleet is like a family, we all protect each other."

            Maq nodded in agreement "True.  Now, it's late, and we need to set off by 0300, so I think we need to get to the Isis.  I have quarters set up for the both of you.  X, the Stormrunner will remain under Vesping's command and follow us."

            "Fine by me, Vesping's good.  She'll be a good commander when she gets her stars."  They started off walking again, talking idly. Samus          somehow felt more at home here than anyone else.  That was a startling thought, though it made sense.  These were people who didn't judge her by her occupation.  The Terran military looked down on mercenaries and bounty hunters, after all, they fought for honor and duty, those lesser beings fought (worked) for money.

            "Um, isn't the shuttle bay that way?" Samus gestured down the corridor the opposite from the way they were going.

            "Yes" X answered "But we're not going by shuttle, were teleporting."

            "Teleporting!?" Samus was shocked.  Terran science was convinced teleportation was impossible.

            "Yes, and it perfectly safe" said X "Actually, that's how I got you on the shuttle."

            "Oh."  They continued on.

            A few minutes later, they arrived at the teleportation room.  Maq, X and Samus walked in, a engineer was behind a control console.  "Sir, ma'am"

            Maq and X stepped up on the platform as if they did this every day, well, they did, Samus, with a bit of trepidation.

            "It's okay Samus" Maq smiled "It won't hurt a bit."       

            X smirked evilly "Well, most of the time is doesn't.  Sometimes there's an accident like that one time-"

            "X, shut up!" Maq shot him a hard look.

            "What?" he asked innocently.

            Samus had stopped when X mentioned 'accident'.  Maq took pity on her.

            "It's okay Samus, X is only being a man."         

            "Hey!"

            Smiling, Samus stepped onto the platform.  Moments later, all three of them disappeared into shafts of white light.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

            Samus walked with X down a corridor on the Isis, unconsciously, they were hand-in-hand again.  The corridor was well lit and bright.  Soft gray carpet and polished titanium walls with control panels built into them, the ceiling was also carpeted, with two bars of lights running down the center.  They were going to their quarters, separate, but in the same corridor.

            "I don't know about you, but I'm beat." X stretched "I look forward to sleep."

            "Hm?' Samus looked at him, she looked even more tired than him.

            "Yeah, I'd say you need sleep."  He stopped walking; Samus went a step more, then noticed that X wasn't moving and stopped.  "This ones yours, Samus."

            Samus shook her head to try and clear it "You're right, I must be tired."

            X smiled softly "believe me, you look it, go get some rest and feel free to sleep in, no more antiviral drugs, and we have three days to Centris."

            Samus nodded "Goodnight X."

            "Goodnight Samus, see you in the morning."

            X turned and started walking away, Samus decided to act on an impulse.

            "X wait a second."

            X stopped and turned "Hm? What is it?"

            Samus walked up to him "I just noticed that I still haven't said thank you for getting me out of my ship and saving my life, a bit ungracious of me, especially with all you've done."

            X smiled and chuckled softly "Samus, you d-"

            She held up her hand, signaling him to stop "Yes, I do."  Then Samus acted on impulse, she put her hands on his shoulders, and kissed him lingeringly.  "Thank you, X, I'd be dead if you hadn't come along."  Then she stepped back, the doors to her quarters hissed open, and she stepped inside.

X stood stock still in the corridor for a few moments.  He had not expected that, in fact, he had hoped that it wouldn't have happened.  Not that he didn't like Samus, she was a good friend, one of the best her had, and was very beautiful.  Part of his mind had thought of her as a woman, but he had checked that, and quieted it.  Now, he couldn't.  He liked Samus, and wanted to hope that they could get closer, he wanted to, with all his heart, but the part of him that had been fighting a war for 700 years warred against that.

He had learned from what had happened to Alia what Zero would do to those closest to him if he allowed himself to love again. So, to protect others, he had buried that part of him, the emotions, the threat to others, shut it out, never allowed himself to be more than a friend.  And now Samus was bringing that part of him out again.  Emotions that, for the safety of others, he could not allow himself to have, because they would put anyone he cared for in mortal jeopardy.  He turned and began walking to his quarters again, the memories he had buried coming back to him, he knew that he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight, them memories were bubbling back to he surface like magma, and he couldn't control them.  It was as if it was 500 years ago again, he could see the battlefields, the death and carnage, he could see Alia dying in his arms, the wound that had killed her delivered by his own bean saber with his own hands.  He could hear Alia's voice asking him to forgive her for being not being strong enough to hold off Zero and the X-virus.

X entered his quarters and sat on the edge of the bead, trying to keep tears back.  He lay back shutting his eyes, hoping that sleep would clear his mind and once again shut out the living nightmare.  But with sleep memories came clearer, like visions, only this time it wasn't Alia lying in his arms.

It was Samus.

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End Chapter Six.

Authors notes: I know I said that I would put a lot of humor in this installment, but it didn't pan out, and I want to get this moving, and it will.  From here on things will pick up a bit.

I don't know when Ch7 will be done.  I have ideas for another crossover fic, a Gundam / Robotech one, and also a Tenchi fic, so my time is no devided.  But don't worry, Paths of Life is still my main fic, and will receive the bulk of my attention.

Send C&C to my new spam-free Email at Leo_Koz@yahoo.com

See you nest chapter.

            Veritech


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